Date & Almond Raw Bars

I love these boosts of energy for breakfast, with a glass of almond milk and a banana.   They are packed with nutrients and easily portable, wrapped in clingfilm in my bag, when out and about and vegan options are few and far between.

100 g ground almonds
250 g medjool dates
2 tbsp maple syrup
50 g walnuts
Zest of one lemon
40 g sesame seeds
40 g pumpkin seeds
20 g desiccated coconut
1 tsp ground ginger

Makes 16

Line a dish or tray approx 23 cm x 15 cm with clingfilm, leaving plenty at each side to fold over later. Put all the dry ingredients into a food processor, add the maple syrup, then blitz until the mixture comes together.

Tip the mixture into the dish or tray, press down with your fingertips until even and level, then cover with the clingfilm and leave to chill in the fridge, for a couple of hours.

Remove from the fridge and cut into a size to suit, I make 16 out of this amount of mixture

The recipe is versatile, so you can change ingredients, depending on what is in your cupboards, so you could add cocoa or cacao powder, vanilla, different seeds or add pecans, pistachio or macadamia nuts instead of walnuts.